“Cybersecurity” bill endangers privacy rights

By Timothy B. Lee – CISPA’s defenders say the legislation will help the government and private companies to more effectively defend their networks by sharing information about impending security threats.

It’s unclear why new legislation is needed to allow this kind of uncontroversial information sharing to occur. Network administrators and security researchers at private firms have shared threat information with one another for decades. And the law also allows information sharing between private firms and the government in many circumstances. For example, a private company is already free to notify the FBI if it detects an attempt to hack into its network.

The “notwithstanding” approach to cybersecurity is fundamentally flawed because it’s almost impossible to predict which parts of US law might be effectively changed by the new law, or to prevent unintended consequences from unduly broad sharing. It would be far better for Congress to figure out which specific privacy laws (if any) prevent effective network security responses and explicitly reform those provisions. more> http://tinyurl.com/7ks9edv